Nine Nights on the Windy Tree by Martha Miller

Author:Martha Miller [Miller, Martha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626391796
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2014-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

The train station was almost empty. Sounds echoed in the long, narrow room where pay phones and lockers lined the marble walls. An old man in a porter’s uniform pushed a broom over the shiny hardwood floors. Bertha bought two Snickers bars and a cup of coffee from the vending machines and sat down to wait for the Chicago Amtrak. She’d slept too late for breakfast. The chocolate and sugar helped settle her nerves, but adding caffeine probably made it a wash. The snack would have to keep her hunger at bay until the train was in. Then she could have some lunch with Aunt Lucy before the trip across town to Grandma’s. Bertha sniffed, then drank the dark, searing coffee. It tasted like tar, but she was used to it by the third sip, and when the cup was empty, she wished she had enough change for another.

She checked her watch, then carried the second Snickers bar to a pay phone, unwrapping it as she walked. She’d already lost seventy cents on Alvin’s answering machine. She stuck the candy between her teeth, dropped in the last of her change, and dialed Alvin’s number again. She counted the rings, determined to hang up before the machine clicked on, but it picked up on the third instead of the fourth ring, and her money was gone. She sighed and listened to Randy’s recorded voice. She thought she might as well leave another message.

Suddenly she heard a loud, irritating tone and a soft male voice said, “Hello.”

Bertha shouted, “Hello? Hello?” The Snickers bar bounced off the top of her leather tennis shoe.

“Bertha?” It was Alvin.

“Where’ve you been? Did you get my messages?”

“Sorry, no,” Alvin said. “I just came in. Randy’s car overheated last night. I helped him take it to be looked at and ran him on to work. He had a perm scheduled at ten o’clock. What’s up?”

Bertha tried to reach for the Snickers, but the phone cord was too short. She asked Alvin to hold on and knelt to retrieve it. After she examined the chocolate carefully, she took a huge bite, then picked up the swinging receiver and mumbled while she chewed.

“What’s up is we can get into the office today.”

“Good. You going to meet me there?”

Bertha swallowed. “Later. I’m picking up my aunt at the train station and carrying her to Grandma’s.”

“Everything all right?”

“I just don’t want Grandma alone right now.”

“She sick?”

“No. Someone’s been snooping around her house.”

“Damn.”

“You go in when you can. I’ll meet you there.”

“Sure. I can start sorting things. I’ve been wanting to redo those files for a long time, honey.”

“One more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Call Maids‑on‑Wheels. I hear they do a helluva crime scene.”

Alvin hesitated, then chuckled. “What kind of a person would know a thing like that?”

“Well, we both know it now,” said Bertha, shoving the last of the nutty chocolate into her mouth.

The train from the north was twenty-seven minutes late. Bertha watched a family with several young children wait outside on the hot and windy platform.

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